Despite no tariff hikes in Q4 FY21, the telecom sector revenue from prepaid subscribers grew both quarterly and yearly. At the same time, there was a dip in revenue from postpaid subscribers on a yearly basis, but on a quarterly basis, the sector saw a positive growth. With the revenues from the prepaid segment growing, the industry saw a rise in average revenue per user (ARPU) both on a quarterly and yearly basis. Bharti Airtel’s 4G subscriber market share during the quarter improved and went up to 24.6%, which is up by 85bps Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) and 310bps Year-on-Year (YoY). Further, the company has gained a substantial market share in data usage, which rose to 110bps QoQ and 490bps YoY to 33.1%. At the same time, Reliance Jio’s 4G subscriber market share dipped by 60bps QoQ and 315bps YoY to 58%. But this wouldn’t have troubled Jio a lot since the telco knew it would add all of these subscribers back.
Indian Consumers Spent Rs 400 Billion On Mobile Services In Q4 FY21
According to a report from ICICI Securities, In Q4 FY21, Indian consumers spent more money on purchasing mobile services. Indians spent Rs 400 billion in the quarter, which is 2.6% more QoQ and 12.4% more YoY on consuming mobile services from the telecom operators. This is without the presence of a tariff hike. More 4G subscribers came into the pool, and the total 4G users grew by 4.5% QoQ (net additions 31.4 million) to 729 million. This is a good thing since the operators can stand a chance to earn even more with tariff hikes in the future. But those hikes are expected to come in a phased manner since the telcos will be pushing to increase their market share in terms of subscribers at the moment so that they can maximise their 5G revenues in the future.
